


Tsukishima Kei Is Not Afraid of Anything

by melliejellie



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Canon Compliant, Childhood, Growing Up, New Friends, Sibling Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:20:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28063059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melliejellie/pseuds/melliejellie
Summary: Tsukishima Kei is brave. He doesn't need Akiteru to hold his hand, but it's nice. He doesn't need his brother's keychain to bring him luck, but it helps. And when the new kid with freckles needs help being brave, then Kei can probably manage that, too. After all, Tsukishima Kei is not afraid of anything.Originally written for Moonrise: A Tsukishima Zine!
Relationships: Tsukishima Kei & Tsukishima Akiteru, Tsukishima Kei & Yamaguchi Tadashi
Comments: 18
Kudos: 59
Collections: Moonrise: A Tsukishima Kei Zine





	Tsukishima Kei Is Not Afraid of Anything

**4 Years Old**

Today Kei’s visiting the scariest place he’s ever been. He’s been holding onto Akiteru’s hand since his family opened the huge glass doors and he saw an actual monster staring at him.

“It’s only a dinosaur fossil, Kei-chan. It’s can’t hurt you,” Aki explains.

But Kei isn’t so sure. He holds Aki’s hand tighter.

Every room is filled with monsters. He’s still scared, but Aki is excited so Kei wants to be excited, too. He wants to do everything niichan does.

“Whoa, Kei, look at this one!” Aki’s mouth drops open.

So Kei does it, too, gasping like he’s surprised.

When his big brother leans over to read the words on the sign, Kei pretends to read, too. This dinosaur has big, awful teeth and Kei doesn’t really want to look at them, but he will. He can be brave, too.

Until they turn the corner into a big, open room with one very, very scary dinosaur in the middle. Whimpering, he darts behind Aki’s legs.

Aki pats the top of Kei’s head. “What’s wrong, Kei-chan?”

“That one’s too scary,” he says, even though they’ve all been too scary.

“I know it might seem that way, but,” Aki turns around and crouches down in front of him. He smiles wide before he makes a serious face and holds up a finger.

“First, they’re not alive and they can’t get you. Second,” he holds up another finger and winks, “they’re super cool. Before humans were here they walked around eating whole trees and stomping around. That’s kind of awesome, right?”

Because his big brother looks happy, Kei feels happy, too. He nods, his hair swishing over his eyes.

“Right?” Aki pops back up and throws his arms wide, gesturing to the whole room and the maybe not-so-scary-anymore dinosaur behind him. “I wish I was big and strong!”

“You are!” Kei grins, grabbing onto his hand again. He feels better, but he still needs that.

“Not like a dinosaur was, but,” he leans down pressing his face near Kei’s and grinning, “maybe we can pretend to be.”

For the rest of the afternoon they pretend to be each dinosaur they come across. By the end of the day, Kei’s legs are tired from running around, but he’s excited for their next family trip to the library so they can pick out dinosaur books together.

In the gift shop, they’re told they can each pick out one thing. Aki gets a keychain of a triceratops, his favorite.

Kei gets a giant plushie of the dinosaur that scared him in that big room. A T-Rex.

“Why’d you pick that one?” Aki asks once they’re buckled in the car.

Kei yawns and rests his head on the top of his T-Rex. “Because he was huge and scary and I want to be scary, too.”

“You’re too cute to be scary.”

Kei sticks out his tongue. “I’m not cute. I’ll eat you later.” He pushes the T-Rex’s mouth towards Aki’s arm. His big brother yelps and pulls away. Kei laughs before another yawn takes over and soon he’s fast asleep, hugging his new friend as tight as he can.

***

**6 Years Old**

Kei sorts the last of his building bricks and pauses to admire his work. Every brick Aki gave him is now perfectly sorted by color. He thinks he’ll build a house. Then a museum. Or the other way around.

But first, a fence. Fences keep the other kids out.

Tomorrow is Kei’s first day of first grade and he doesn’t want to go.

He snaps the fence into place around the outside. Then he decides it needs to be taller.

He’s adding another row of bricks when he hears Aki stomping down the hallway. He braces himself. Caught again.

Aki opens it without knocking. “Kei,” he huffs, “why do you keep unpacking your bookbag?”

Twice today Kei has taken all the supplies out of his bookbag and hidden them around the house. The first time Aki thought it was hilarious and he enjoyed finding all the items and putting them back. The second time was less fun and he made Kei help put everything back.

The only thing Kei likes is his new stegosaurus pencil bag. He’s not excited about anything else.

“I don’t want to go,” Kei sulks, clicking another brick into place.

“Why not? It’s super fun!”

“I don’t want to go,” he repeats.

“You liked kindergarten, right? Elementary school is the same, but better! You learn way more things, we have a garden, there’s a lot of new kids you can be friends w--”

“I don’t want to meet new kids.” Kei pulls his knees up to his chin, hiding his face. “Mom says my class has twenty-five kids. That’s too many.”

He feels Aki sit down next to him. “It’s okay to be scared, Kei.”

Kei’s knees are pressing against his nose. “I’m not scared!”

“Nervous?”

“No. It’s-” he stays folded up tight, “they’re going to be noisy. And gross. And - and they’ll want to talk to me. Or maybe no one will want to talk to me at all. And mom says there’s a big ce-cer--”

“Ceremony,” Aki helps in a quiet voice.

“--ceremony where I have to dress in itchy clothes and meet the principal and all the teachers and learn the school song. I don’t want to do any of that.”

“You know what the best part is, though?”

“Nothing.”

“After all that boring stuff, guess what?” Aki’s voice is closer now, but Kei still won’t look up.

He sniffles, “what?”

“I get to see you, too! My classroom is close to yours. I can wave at you and check on you whenever my class goes by. And, and--” he’s excited, “we can play together at recess!”

Kei looks up, his watery eyes peeking just over the tops of his knees. “We can?”

“Yep! There’s a big kid playground and a little kid playground, but I can come over to the little kid playground.”

“You promise?” He stares at his big brother. His niichan is big. And strong. He can scare anyone away. Or just play with him. That’d be okay, too.

“I super promise.” Aki holds out his pinky and, slowly, Kei unfurls his body and wraps his own tiny pinky around his.

“I got another idea.”

“What?”

“Why don’t you bring one of your dinosaurs to help you be brave tomorrow?”

Kei’s eyes grow wide and bright. He jumps up from the floor and races to his bed to grab an old friend. His T-rex has gotten floppy over the years from all the hugs, but he’s still Kei’s favorite.

Aki’s smile slips. “He might be a little too big for your bookbag.”

Kei’s hands fall to his sides. His T-Rex falls down with them.

Aki scrambles to his feet. “Wait, I have the perfect idea! Hang on.”

Alone again in his room, Kei’s hope starts to fade. He’s only going to see Aki at recess. The rest of the day he’s going to be by himself in a room full of kids he doesn’t know.

Aki bounces back into Kei’s room, presenting his old triceratops keychain. “It’s perfect! It’s a dinosaur so it’ll give you bravery powers and it’s small so you can secretly have it in your pocket all day.”

“You’ll really let me borrow it?” Kei asks, his voice soft. Aki’s never even used it on his own bookbag because he was afraid it would get messed up.

“You can keep it!” His brother puts the keychain into his waiting hands and asks, “Think you’re ready to pack your bookbag now?”

Kei nods happily and clutches his small fingers around his new dinosaur.

***

**10 Years Old**

Akiteru’s keychain swings on Kei’s backpack as he exits the store, treasure in hand.

On Fridays, Kei’s mom gives him a little extra money so he can stop by the tiny grocery store and buy a treat for himself. The tradition started when Akiteru went off to middle school and Kei was left behind in elementary school with the rest of his weird class. He told his mom he didn’t need to be “treated like a baby,” but he took the money and has enjoyed getting strawberry-dipped panda cookies every single week since.

He stuffs two into his mouth and grins. They don’t get to eat a lot of sugar at home and these weekly cookies feels like breaking the rules. Now that he’s a big kid, he can get away with a lot. He even wore his purple moon hoodie every day this week without mom noticing. His grin shifts into a smirk as he shoves his hand into the box.

Kei hears loud voices at the neighborhood park and stops mid-step. He recognizes them. They’re the jerks in class B who keep messing with people at recess. Kei can’t see them yet, but there’s no mistaking those voices. He freezes.

He hears another voice, small and scared.

“I have to go home. I can’t--”

Kei’s stomach clenches. It’s the new boy in his class. Tadashi. He’s scrawny and has hair that sticks straight up. They haven’t talked much, but that’s because Kei doesn’t talk to anyone. He’s almost a head taller than all the boys and even the girls call him a beanpole. It’s better to ignore everyone.

Tadashi doesn’t do that, though. Ever since school began a few weeks ago, Tadashi’s tried to make friends with everyone in class. He has a small voice but a big laugh. And he talks to Kei constantly.

“I like your keychain!”

“That book looks cool.”

“Want to play tag with me?”

Kei brushes him off without saying much, his brows pinched together to make him look serious. But Tadashi never relents.

“Why are you so puny?”

Kei hears someone hit the ground.

“Seriously, you’re crying? He cries about everything. You crybaby.”

Kei balls his hands into fists at his sides. His heart is racing and his mouth is dry, but he thinks of all the times Akiteru helped him. Maybe Tadashi doesn’t have a big brother like that.

He steps forward like his heart isn’t doing somersaults. Kei relaxes his face into his practiced, bored expression as he shoots them a look.

“What are you looking at?” The big one sneers.

He can’t think of what to say so he spits out what he can.

“Lame,” he smirks. He rolls his eyes for effect and continues walking, reminding himself how to put one foot in front of the other.

The other boys stare at him as he passes.

Standing a little straighter, Kei feels pretty good all of sudden. The look on their faces is priceless. They’re just a bunch of idiots.

But he does walk a little faster.

When he hears quick footsteps behind him, he tenses but doesn’t stop.

One of the boys grabs on to his backpack and yells, “Hey, quit walking away!”

Slowly he turns, towering over the now very small looking bully and responds, “What?”

The other boy shrinks below him, stutters, “You’re the one that’s lame, four eyes! Stupid!” He yells as he backs away.

Kei laughs. At first it’s to diffuse the weird tension in his chest, but then it melts into real laughter. Those boys are the stupid ones.

He grins as he watches them run away.

Satisfied, he turns to resume his walk home. He makes it a few steps before he hears hesitant footsteps behind him.

“H-hey. Thanks.”

Kei stops and glances back over his shoulder. “For what?”

“You helped me,” Tadashi says softly, still sniffling and wiping at his tear-stained face.

Kei looks away. “You could have done it yourself,” he says, tone sharp. He’ll never be just like Akiteru with the just-right words to say. But he doesn’t want to be mean. But he also doesn’t want this kid following him home.

“N-no, I couldn’t have. They bother me all the t-time.” Tadashi sounds like he needs a million tissues.

Kei clicks his tongue and takes another step.

“That was th-the first time they ran away. Thank you very much!”

Kei turns, his nose scrunched up in irritation. Tadashi’s bowing, his hands stiff at his sides, making a scene.

“Cut that out.”

“Oh, sorry! I--” Tadashi bolts upright again, his lip quivering.

“You don’t need to thank me,” he says. Kei has no idea what to do now. He wonders if he’s supposed to ask if he’s okay or if he wants to play. He kind of wants to ask, but he also just wants to eat his panda cookies in peace and go home.

His eyes land on the scrape on Tadashi’s freckled cheek and he feels a pinch in his chest.

“O-okay. See you at school tomorrow,” Tadashi says, starting to walk away.

“Hey,” Kei blurts.

Tadashi stops and spins around. “Yeah?”

“I uh-” he falters, not sure why he didn’t want him to walk away just yet. “See you tomorrow, Tadashi.”

“Yeah!” He smiles and Kei feels a smile of his own, not a smirk, form at the corner of his mouth.

Kei looks down at the box in his hands, drumming his fingers on the box as his brain tries figure out what to do next.

“Do you want a cookie?” He asks sharply. He shoves the box forward but doesn’t look up.

“S-sure. Thank you!” He watches Tadashi’s hand slowly reach into the box and take out one panda cookie. “I love these! But the chocolate ones are my favorite.”

“Strawberry is better,” Kei replies.

“No way,” Tadashi says quickly, his words muffled by the sounds of chewing. “The chocolate ones are so much better. They’re sweeter.”

Kei’s eyes snap up, one eyebrow raised.

Tadashi inhales sharply.

Kei smirks. He chuckles.

Tadashi smiles wide again, his freckles stretching up towards his eyes.

Kei holds out the box, gesturing for Tadashi to take another. “Maybe we can hang out at recess,” Kei mumbles. “You know, just so they don’t mess with you then.”

“I’d like that! You’re usually reading at recess. Can I join you?

“Would that be fun?” Kei raises an eyebrow. No one else ever wants to read at recess.

“Sure! You could bring that one big fossil book you have,” Tadashi’s eyes widen then his gaze snaps to his shoes, “o-only if you want to.”

“I guess it’d be okay,” he replies and Tadashi smiles up at him so big and bright that Kei wonders how someone can smile that big without hurting their face.

The way that Tadashi is so excited makes him feel a little excited, too. Like maybe sitting on the edges of the playground with one, just one, other person might be okay.

That night as he puts his fossil book in his backpack and glances at the well-worn triceratops keychain, he thinks tomorrow might be better than okay. Maybe tomorrow is going to be the best.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed my take on the Very Best Boi's time as a little guy who is definitely never, ever scared. I love Tsukki soooo much, so getting to write this was a joy. The bond he shares with Aki and Yams is too sweet not to celebrate.
> 
> I appreciate every kudos, bookmark, and comment (and I always reply to comments, even if it takes me a while sometimes)!
> 
> You can find me on twitter, [@HeyMellieJellie](https://twitter.com/HeyMellieJellie).


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